Bank Of Ireland to invest €600,000 in towns initiative

Bank of Ireland plans to invest more than €600,000 in its Enterprise Town initiative this year, which is designed to bring local businesses and residents together to boost economic activity in their area.

The bank ran the programme across 14 Irish towns in the first half of this year and will now roll out the concept to an additional 36 before the year end.

Over 300 Bank of Ireland staff are involved in the initiative with 3,500 businesses, almost 2,000 sports and community groups, and 100 schools.

In total, some 28,000 “connections” will be facilitated by the programme based on participation at the Enterprise Town expos by locals.

Bank of Ireland is also providing business mentoring and event organisation, with high-profile speakers including Gavin Duffy of Dragons' Den; TV chef Rachel Allen; Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte; media executive Norah Casey and Olympic champion boxer Katie Taylor.

Liam McLoughlin, chief executive of retail Ireland at Bank of Ireland said the programme has had an “enormous impact locally” since inception. The concept was originally piloted in Kells, Granard and Rathdowney before the bank committed to rolling it out in 50 towns this year.

“Our goal is to leave local residents with a greater awareness of what is available locally from business and community organisations within their town,” he said.